Fabricated wall support



Oct. 29, 19 29. w, s, CONNELL FABRICATED ALL SUPPORT Filed un; 20. 1927 4 SheetsfSheet 1 Oct. 29, 1929. w. s. CONNELL 1,733,779

QF'ABRICATED WALL SUPPORT Filed June 20. 1927 4 sheets sheet 2' at: "up

Oct. 29, 1929. w. s. CONNELL FABRICATED WALL SUPPORT Filed June 20. 1927 Sheets-Sheet 5 FABRICATED WALL SUPPORT Fi'IedJune 20. 1927 1 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Patented Oct. 29, 1929 UNlTE STATES WILLIAM s. 'ooNNELLf PATENT OFFICE OF CLEVELAND, OHIO FABRICA'IED wA'riL surron'r Application filed June 20,

In building structures, it is common to employ a skeleton or framework of commercial shapes, such as angle bars, flats, channels bars, crosses, T-bars, Z-bars, and the like, each providing, usually in a single integral structure, the several elements of a truss or multiples thereof, whereby compression and ten-- I sion stresses, as from crushing and lateral loads, are distributed and carried, and such commercial shapes have been assembled in almost innumerable relations, but the lateral bracing between such shapes has invariablydepended upon extraneous or supplemental means, as for example bridging members between the flanges of spaced I-beams or other.

commercial shapes.

The object of the present invention is the obviating of the lateral spacebridgespand a further object is the unifying of a truss in both lateral and longitudinal directions,

so that whereas an ordinary commercial shape spans a definite s ace, a structure embodying the invention Wlll as effectively span such space and bridge the space edgewise or tary structure for affording a complete skelelaterally of the space commonly occupied by,

the commercial unit.

Considering a wall as a space cover or bridge, whether horizontally, vertically or otherwise disposed, and therefore whether a floor, a side wall, partition, roof, or other space cover, the presentinvention contemplates production of dual trussing in a uniton wall adapted to be used alone or in conjunction with a supporting frame of commercial shapes of'individually larger calibre, and also adapted'to be covered or bonded with surfacing orcomplete. filler of lithic mass,

such as plaster or concrete.

More specifically the invention comprises" spaced chords, and tie stays connecting the same both laterally and longitudinally fordistributing therebetween both compression and tension stresses in all directions. I

An important object of the invention as thus indicated includes construction of a wall area'of such trussing from wires or like rods,

and the valueof the invention is accentuated I' by the fact that an embodiment of the invention expressive of this object may include 1927. Serial No. 200,229.

particularly light gage of wire for producing an unusually rigid wall structure susceptible of carrying a maximum load.,

A further object is the affording of niaximum temporary support, as for instance when the wall is a floor and the embodiment of the invention is utilized as a supporting surface for workmen while the building is being completed. Temporary flooring is obviated, and the value of this particularphase tire Wall truss is formed from a single sheet of expanded and bent sheet metal.

The. invention resides not only in the fabri cated support itself but also in the method of making the same from a single sheet of material so as to provide spaced foraminous layer so to speak, of metal double trussing spacers.

.Many other important objects and results are contemplated and attained by and in -the invention in and throughout its numerous possible embodiments, as will hereinafter in part be pointed out and in part'be stated.

In the accompanying drawings Figure 1 is a top plan View of a portion of the fabricated wall.member, the plastic material being broken away to showthe de-[ tails of construction more clearly;

Figure 2 is a bottom plan view similar t the top plan above referred to;

Figure 3 isa longitudinal sectional view on the line 3-3 of Figure 1 Figure 4' the line L 4 of Figure 1;

Figure 5 is a perspective view of-a modified form of structural member made from a sheet s a transverse sectional view on sov of metal and embodying all the principles of myinvention;

' Figure 6 is a longitudinal sectional view of the form shown inFigure'5 d Figurev 7 is a fragmentary plan previous to the expansion of the metal;

layer being broken away;

unit shown in Figure 5, a portion of the top Figure 9 is a sectional view on the line 9-- 9 of FigureS;

.of theinvention is accentuated when theenother in-a zig-zag manner so as to form triangular stress resisting trusses, said trusses Figure isan enlarged detail view of a portion ofthe blank as shownin Figure 7 and Figure 11 is a detail view of one of the wire strands employed to form the stays in the wire fabric form.

L1ke reference numerals deslgnate corresponding parts throughout the several figures of the drawing.

Referring to the form of the invention illustrated in Figures 1 to 4, 1 designates a series of parallel, longitudinally extending chord members, held in properspaced relation by the transverse members 2 which are suitably joined to the members 1 by spot "welding, soldering, or otherwise, this forming the bottom layer of the unit. Above .or trussing elements 5 which have a peculiar arrangement. They may consist of single.

strands of stock longitudinally extending from-one end of the unit or structure to the being joined to the lower series at the, points of juncture between the members 1 and 2.

The-corresponding apexes of two such adjoining strands are brought together and joined to the upper intermediate member 3.

This produces a truss arrangement comprising a series ofrowsof rigid stays having pyramidal formation.

The material from which this skeleton framework is made may consists of light rods or wire of a diameter calculated to be sufficient for the particular stresses to which the unit will be subjected and having in view the pggticular formation of the framework in the manner above set forth. When'suchaform is employed for the purposes of floor-construction, a layer of cementitious material 7 is applied on top to form the floor slab and the layer 8 applied to the bottom to form the ceiling slab. This material necessarily strengthens the joints between the elements, embedded therein, to a very great degree. To the top of the frame Ipreferably apply the intersecting wires 9 and 9' which are wrapped around the members 2 'and 3 or otherwise connected thereto -for the purpose of forming -a netting to better hold the plastic material and to act in the nature of reinforcement which will strengthen and prevent cracking ofthe material. In like manner similar wires 10-10 ,areapplied to the bottom layer of the framework, said wiresnot necessarily being of the same gage as those used with reference to the upper layer.

In Figures 5 to 10 I have illustrated a modified construction made from a single sheet of material of proper dimension and gage- This-material is slit longitudinally at intervals,'each slit designated 11 being of v I verse cut determines the width of the" relatively narrow strips hereinafter referred to. The slits 11 run in parallel rows, suitably spaced apart. so as to leave'the long strips 12' extending from end to end of the fabric with r'elatively'short and narrow strips 13 therebetween. These latter strips, by virtue of the shorttransverse slit sections 11, fall into opposingpairs aa, b b, c.c, d d,

etc. Each alternate strip 12 is now pressed out of the plane of its adjacent strips, the bend of the connecting narrowstrips, designated 11? being along-an angle less than a right angle which causes the strips 12 of the respective layers to, move edgewise toward each other.

When the metal is expanded in the manner above described, the respective points of con-' nection marked at will lie in the upper plane and the points .marked 3 in the lower plane.

The connections or tabs mbetween the respective strips 12 and also the connections y will overlap each other, and these connections may then be spot welded so as to positively secure the points to each other with the result that a fabricated structure such as shown in Figure 5 is produced in which we havethe upper level A and the lower level B joined by angularlyrelated truss members, the formation of which is similar to that described with reference to'the first mentioned construction. That is to say, considering these stays or truss members by groups, it will be observed that the elements of each group have a pyramidal formation so that they are disposed to resist stresses in all directions. v It will be noted from Figure 5 that the sheet metal unit when. th'us formed has in its upper and lower surfaces elongated slots O through which the material of the floor or ceiling passes for keying purposes;

It is comprehended that either of these.

formsof fabricated units may be manufactured to include the lastic material so that a wall unit complete in slab form of reasonable dimensions would 'be obtainable. It is also to be understood that these units may be utilized in the construction ofvertical walls, partitions, and the like, and when desired t e plastic material may be filled into the skeleton structure to provide a solid wall rather than a hollow one.

From the foregoing it will be apparent that the fabncation is made up preferably in ceiling level and the floor level.

tion of whichis to distribute the stresses to the cementitious material in which they are embedded, for in this inventionvthe cementi- .tious floor on top is spaced from the ceiling at the bottom and yet as efficient a structure is obtained as when the material is constructed in the usual manner by form-molding around reinforcing rods or tiles.

. The advantages of these improvements are extremely important when the respective methods of construction referred to are considered. For instance, when constructing floors of cement, boards are tied to the bases of the beams to form the bottom mold wall;

- adjustable shoring supports or jacks are then closely distributed beneath the same to sustain the weight of the material; reinforcing rods are then positioned between the beams above the boards by a very laborious and time-consuming operation; and finally the cement poured to fill the space between the Similarly, it is necessary to support hollow tile when used as a filler medium, and the expense is very great, relatively speaking, because of these operations and material'adjuncts.

On theother hand, with my invention the units are simply'laid in place on the beam flanges and then the cementitious material is plastered onto the surfaces as is done in the practice employing metal lathing Incidentally, as before stated, .the units may be walked upon freely before the application of the cement, so that no scaffolding or planking is necessary during the preliminary building construction. Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is

1. A wall structure comprising a plural- -ity of substantially parallel chord members,

'tudinally running stays connecting the several chord members, and chord members of a' similarly disposed chord members spaced therefrom, and laterally inclined and longidifi'erent gauge secured to the first named chord members and lying therebetween.

2. A wall structure comprising a plurality of substantially parallel chord members, similarly disposed chord members spaced therefrom, and longitudinally running continuous stays connecting the several chord members and each having portions inclined both laterally and longitudinally relative to the chord members.

3. structural unit designed to constitute a sectional element of a wall structure and comprising a series of longitudinally arranged chord members and transverse chord members connected thereto, a second series of longitudinal and transverse chord members disposed in spaced relation to the first series,

a third series of longitudinally arranged stress res1st1ng members each formed ,into a plurality of triangular shapes and each connected to the respectiveseries of chord members at the points of juncture between the longitudinal and transverse chord members, the apexes of pairs of such stress resisting members having a common point of connection with the chord members of one of the series so as to provide longitudinally and transversely inclined truss elements, each of said stress resisting members being connected tobut one chord of each of the first two series throughout its length.

4. A fabricated structural unit comprisingupper and lower tiers of fabric having parallel, longitudinal and transverse wires, and trussing members intermediate the two tiers composed of a series of wires each of which is bent upwardly and downwardly and con-- nected to the Wires of the-respectivetiers at the bends, said trussing members extending longitudinally of the wires connected thereby and the portion thereof between the connections being inclined laterally thereto, adjacent portions of the trussing members lying in oppositely inclined dir ections.

5. A'fabricated structural unit comprising superposed tiers of parallel wires and transverse wires for each tier connecting the parallel wires thereof together and holding them inspaced relation, and means for holding the wire fabric of one tier spaced in relation to the fabric of the other tier comprising stay wires, each having rigid connection alternately at a plurality of points of adjacent wires, one of each of the respective tiers and bearing an angular relation in two directions with'rega'rd to -the parallel wires aforesaid.

6. -A wall structure composed of spaced series of chord members, the chord members transverse connecting members and the chord members so that sections of the trussing menibers are inclined both laterally and longiwith the respective chord members of one fabric arranged in transverse planes difi'erent from those of the corresponding members in the other fabric, and trussing members extending from end to end of the structure and each rigidly connecting with both fabrics at intermediate points so as to have portions thereof inclined both longitudinally and laterally.

8. A Wall structure including upper and lower tiers of reinforcing wires arranged in parallelism, the wires of the upper and lower tiers being in staggered relation to each other, stay rods extending longitudinally of the reinforcing wires and being bent at intervals and connected at alternate bends, alternately with adjacent wires of the two tiers, the stay rods being each connected to two only of said wires.

9. A wall structure including groups of substantially parallel spaced chord members, the chords of both groups lying in parallelism with each other, the adjacent chords of one group lying in staggered relation to those of the adjacent group. stay rodsconnecting the adjacent chords of one group with those of the other, said stay rods in their general direction running longitudinally of the rods connected and having a plurality of connections alternately with the adjacent chords of the said groups, the portions of the stay rods betweensuch connections being inclined laterally and longitudinally with respect to the chords connected thereby.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

WILLIAM S. CQNNELL. 

